Friday, October 12, 2012

To close September John and I went back to my hometown of Chicago, IL to represent Restaurant R’evolution at Chicago Gourmet, a two-day food and wine event presented by Bon Appétit in Millennium Park.It was a great event this year! It was my fourth time and John’s second.Last year the weather was terrible, cold and rainy.Luckily this time the weather was perfect, pristine and clear with lots of energy in the city from people at the Ryder Cup in Medinah.Back by popular demand, we served Truffle Debris Poboys on perfect French bread from Red Hen Bread to 1500 people at our tasting station.This event was very important for us to reconnect with our Chicago fans that have been or would like to come down to New Orleans to experience Restaurant R’evolution in person.We also saw ‘Top Chef’ Stephanie Izard Executive Chef at Girl & The Goat, Chicago Mayor Emanuel, and Louisiana’s own Chef John Besh who judged the Hamburger Hop!

Our Restaurant R’evolution Turtle Soup cooking demonstration on Saturday was sold out! It was good to see the emcee, Steve Dolinsky of Chicago’s Hungry Hound.Steve has Baton Rouge ties, and he missed seeing us at R’evolution while John and I were at the James Beard House. We chose to do the Turtle Soup to try to show the evolution and revolution of what’s going on here.Last year we did the Corn & Crab Cappuccino, which we conceptualized in Donaldsonville.At the demo John explained to the audience how he hunts snapping turtle in the swamps with his bare feet, feeling the shells underwater and trying not to step on alligators. The last day I signed my newest books: Steak With Friends and Scars of a Chef.

October 12-14th I’ll be attending the New York City Food & Wine Festival.Because we use Hammer Stahl Cutlery in Restaurant R’evolution, I’m going to be stationed at their booth, and you’ll never guess what I’m doing! Everyone knows I love tattoos.Kat Von D from Miami Ink actually did my chest tattoo, and some of the artists from Miami Ink that are now at NY Ink will give me a tattoo of a Hammer Stahl knife live in the booth!Everyone at the festival will be able to get a temporary tattoo of the same design and have their picture taken with me.Hammer Stahl will have a Twitter Contest all weekend awarding the top voted pictures on Twitter one of 5 prizes, including a $300 gift card to Restaurant R’evolution! So be sure to follow Laura McIntosh who will be capturing the whole thing on “Bringing It Home.”I’ll also be signing Steak With Friends and Scars of a Chef here too.

Next month John and I will be hosting a special Cooking School & Epicurean Event at the exclusive Blackberry Farmresort in Tennessee in celebration of their 35th anniversary. We are the only two chefs to have ever been invited back to The Farm more than once!I cannot wait to get there that Monday to see what fresh ingredients we’ll have to work with from The Farm in combination with the fresh ingredients we’ll ship from Restaurant R’evolution.John and I will probably split the cooking demonstration since it’s an hour and a half, and we plan to cook Scallops and Foie Gras, Red Wine Braised Short Ribs, White Chocolate Bread Pudding Crème Brulee and more, available seasonally at Restaurant R’evolution. I look forward to working with Staglin Winery again, who will pair older vintages and special bottles with our meals at the event.We’ve had great synergy in the past when I’ve done their wine auction in California and other charity events.

In the meantime, get on over to Restaurant R’evolution for our newest additions: Lunch and Sunday Brunch!